Place of Honor
by Denaliyasha
Summary: Remember the woman who stole men's prized possessions? Eames asks Goren what she would have taken from him, and she gets an unexpected answer... GorenEames


Disclaimer: I disclaim it.

A/N: I saw the episode about the woman who liked to dress up and then lure in guys and steal their possessions. I just got this thought… what would she have taken from Goren? In his opinion, what is the most important thing in his life? Of course, my imagination and my shipper's heart ran away with it, and so I write what they left behind. Enjoy!

**Place of Honor**

"So, she'd done this how many times?" Eames looked down at the photos of costumes.

Goren sighed. "I don't think we'll ever know." He sat down at his desk and leaned back, deep in thought. After a few minutes, Eames decided to break the silence.

"What's on your mind?"

"Just thinking about how malicious that woman was. She could have stolen other things. Those men had other things of value. But no, she took their prized possession, what to them seemed to define their lives, what they'd spent their whole lives looking for." He hunched forward over his desk. This was slightly unsettling to him, even after everything he'd seen.

"Yeah." Eames propped her chin on her hand. "She was rather vindictive. Wonder what caused it."

"Who knows."

"Hey, Bobby?" He lifted his head.

"Yeah?"

"What would she have taken from you?"

Crap. The one question he'd been hoping she wouldn't ask him. She would know if he was lying, but he didn't want to tell the truth.

"Bobby?"

"Ummm…" Eames looked on in fascination. Her unflappable partner was blushing? Now she had to find out.

"Come on, what is it?"

Bobby sighed. She wasn't going to give up until she knew. "You."

"What?" Eames had been too busy staring at her partner to hear him. Damn the man for being so good-looking.

"She'd have taken you."

"Wh-what?" THAT was not what she'd expected, not at all. Some stupid, embarrassing collection, yes. Her? No.

Goren sighed. Best to say the whole thing and get it over with. "She took the most important thing in those men's lives. My collection of sorts is my partners, and you are by far the best. She took the thing that those men thought defined them to the world. I don't connect with the world without you. In my life, the only thing of value to anyone is you." Unable to wait for her reaction, he got up. It was late, so he told Deakins he was leaving and headed home.

He ordered a pizza, feeling a sudden craving for unhealthy food. Great. This was all just great. Now Eames was going to be freaked out around him. Who knew? Maybe she'd put in for a new partner. Maybe, in an indirect way, that woman had stolen his most precious possession.

The doorbell rang. When he opened the door, however, it wasn't the pizza kid. "Hey, Bobby. Can I come in?"

Eames had spent ten minutes staring at her desk in shock after Bobby had more or less said he loved her. He thought she was the most important thing in his life? Wow. That was big. She'd always sorta thought he put up with her because she understood him, could explain him to others. She hadn't thought that he thought that…

"Sure." He stepped back awkwardly to let her into his apartment.

"Umm… About what you said earlier…"

"Look, I'm sorry if it made you uncomfortable, but you asked and I answered. Could we just pretend it never happened?"

Eames nodded. "Okay. But I brought this." She pulled a framed picture of the two of them out of her (oh, so large) coat pocket. "Figured you could put it wherever. Remind yourself that I'm not going anywhere."

Ack. That woman was way too observant. She'd noticed the fear behind his eyes when he thought about losing her. He took the picture from her, and put it on a bookshelf. When he turned back around to thank her, she'd gone.

The entire office stopped and stared the next morning when Goren arrived at work. Eames was already sitting at her desk, doing paperwork. Her partner bent over (A/N: You know, that oddly attractive door-on-a-hinge thing he does with suspects) to watch her work. What got the water coolers buzzing was that, when he thought no one was looking, he leaned over and kissed Eames on the cheek. She smiled somewhat complacently and ruffled his hair, and then he went around to his desk as though nothing had happened.

Deakins, who had seen the whole thing, sank back in his chair. "Well, it's about damn time something happened." He watched his detectives laughing about something, and he smiled. "Yes, it's about damn time."

A/N: Hope you liked it! Please review and make me feel warm and fuzzy!


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